Acadia N.P. and Bar Harbor

It rained softly almost all last night. I only heard it a couple of times and woke up completely refreshed. After very slowly crawling out of bed, we took our time getting ready. After showers, vacuuming, cleaning and other chores, we finally left for Ellsworth, Maine, our Bar Harbor campsite for three days (or more). We had seen some great-looking country on the way up so, after setting up, we retraced our steps back down to Belfast, a cute little town on the Passagassawakeag River. (I had to put that in…sorry! Those Irish names are always difficult to pronounce. I don’t have an Irish accent. Belfast = Irish…right?) Anyway, we had a scallops, fries and cole slaw lunch at a local tavern on the river and then meandered the streets of the town slowly in the car.

We then headed north through Searsport and Bucksport, turned south on Hwy. 166 to Castine, billed as a “must see” in one of the local guide books. We saw it but I must have missed the “must” part of it. Other than the Maine Maritime Academy, it was just another Maine town, cute, but nothing special. We returned to the RV park and walked down to Patton Pond for a look-see. I took a few pictures even though it was getting dark. I think I can get better pictures when the sun is out so I’ll try again later. We are going to try to get up a little earlier tomorrow morning as there should be a lot to see on Mount Desert Island where Bar Harbor is situated.

Friday morning was clousy and foggy! It is supposed to rain, thunder and lightning later, probably tonight but be semi-sunny tomorrow. There are lots of yellow foul weather slickers being worn around here. Mine is going with us today. Our Explorer looks like a “local” car after being towed for miles in wet weather. It is brown, not red like it used to be but why wash it? That’s a waste of money and $6.00 buys a lot of ice cream…but I digress.

We took off and marked a restaurant named “Jasper’s” in “Karen’s” memory bank. We are going there tonight for a $9.95 all-you-can-eat fish & chips dinner, complete with fries and cole slaw. Continuing on, we went into Acadia National Park on Mount Desert Island. We first toured the town of Bar Harbor and picked up several “bargains” that we could not live without…probably. We then drove to the park Visitor Center and did the loop road on the island, slowly heading for the Jordan Pond House which we were told was an “absolute positive must do”. The JPH is a restaurant right on Jordan Pond.

The view from the Jordan Pond House

Their claim to fame is popovers served with blueberry jelly on a lawn overlooking the pond. We passed on this and sat inside due to the weather. I ordered a blueberry ale from a local microbrew. Definitely good! We then split a bowl of lobster stew, a lobster roll and two popovers with blueberry jam. Definitely tasty again, especially the stew, which is actually a misnomer. It’s a light cream, butter and sherry broth with big chunks of lobster in it. Dessert was a Maine Blueberry Cobbler a la mode. VERY definitely tasty! I love blueberries!

Moving right alone, we cruised eastern half of the island, going up to Cadillac “Mountain” (I put the quotes in as the “mountain” is only 1532 feet high) since the fog had lifted slightly. Great view! After that, we headed for a town known as Northeast Harbor. After we turned north and finally headed back to the RV park, we were treated to more spectacular views along the road that followed the water. The views up here just go on and on and on and on.


Bass Harbor Light



Acadia Scenery


After the cocktail hour had come and gone, we headed out for Jasper’s Restaurant. Claudia had the stuffed haddock and I had the fish & chips. Most places up here use haddock instead of cod for the “fish” in fish & chips, which I thought was sort of unusual. Both were delicious. Claudia ate all of her dinner and even snatched some of mine. I can’t be sure due to sly snatching fingers, but I probably had about 8 fillets. I don’t hold back when it comes to fish & chips, especially when it’s all-you-can-eat! We did not order dessert! We just paid the bill and headed back for the rig, a little TV and a good comfortable night’s sleep.

The rain was a non-event and we woke to a mostly cloudy, but dry day. Today, we do the western part of the island, including Southwest Harbor, Manset, Seawall, Bass Harbor and Tremont. As we neared the island, the weather turned to a mostly sunny, but dry day. Things are lookin’ up! We went straight to Tremont and then came back to a little hole in the shoreline called Bernard. What a find! There were a couple of “authentic” lobster restaurants down some dirt roads that were a real find. We saw all the cars parked alongside the road so we stopped and went exploring. Here’s what we found.





After Bernard, we drove through Bass Harbor, Seawall, Manset and Southwest Harbor before re-doing the loop road we did yesterday. It was clearer today so it seemed worthwhile. It was! We also hit Bar Harbor again and then made a couple of stops as we headed north. One was to a lobster shack on the main road that had five wood burning cookers going full tilt.



They were doing a land office business selling lobster dinners. We had set some steaks out for dinner so we passed on the bugs. The second stop was for some blueberry ice cream. Mmmmm good!

Tonight was perfectly prepared steaks with carrots and a salad. Tomorrow, we head for Canaan where we start the Gaspé and Canadian Maritimes tour. We will, however, have three days to ourselves to explore the area before we actually start “work”. The fun is almost over. It’s just about time to jump out of the lobster pot and into the fire. Y’all stay cool!